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Overview of the events of 1956 in British music
List of years in British music
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This is a summary of 1956 in music in the United Kingdom , including the official charts from that year.
February – Release of Shirley Bassey 's first single , Burn My Candle (At Both Ends) .
8 May – Benjamin Britten 's opera Gloriana , written in 1953, is given its US première in Cincinnati , in concert form, conducted by Josef Krips .
14 May – Ralph Vaughan Williams 's Symphony No. 8 receives its first London performance.[ 1]
June – Arthur Bliss heads the first delegation by British musicians to the Soviet Union since the end of the Second World War. The party included the violinist Alfredo Campoli , the oboist Léon Goossens , the soprano Jennifer Vyvyan and the pianist Gerald Moore .[ 2]
17 August – Bacchanale by Ibert , a commission by the BBC to mark the tenth anniversary of the Third Programme , is performed at the Proms with the composer in the audience.
13 November – The first of a series of Hoffnung Music Festival Concerts takes place at the Royal Festival Hall , in London.
31 December – Flanders and Swann launch their two-man revue At the Drop of a Hat .
Classical music: new works [ edit ]
Arthur Bliss
Edinburgh Overture, for orchestra
Seek the Lord (anthem), SATB choir and organ
Reginald Smith Brindle – El Polifemo de Oro
Benjamin Britten
Peter Maxwell Davies – Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
Stephen Dodgson – Concerto No. 1 for Guitar and Orchestra[ 3]
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs – Threnody
Gordon Jacob
Concerto No. 2 for Oboe and Orchestra
Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet
Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano
Variations on "Annie Laurie" , for two piccolos, two contrabass clarinets, heckelphone , two contrabassoons, serpent, contrabass serpent, subcontrabass tuba, harmonium and hurdy-gurdy
Michael Tippett
Bonny at Morn (arr. of Northumbrian folksong), unison choir and three recorders
Songs from the British Isles (4), SATB choir
Ralph Vaughan Williams
A Choral Flourish (text from the Psalms), for SATB choir, two trumpets and organ
God Bless the Master of This House , for SATB choir
Preludes on Welsh Folksongs (2), for organ
Symphony No. 8
A Vision of Aeroplanes (text: N. Ezekiel), motet for SATB choir and organ
William Walton – Cello Concerto
Malcolm Arnold – The Open Window , Op. 56 (opera in one act, libretto by S. Gilliat, after Saki)
Alan Bush – Men of Blackmoor , with libretto by Nancy Bush, premiered at the German National Theatre, Weimar[ 4]
Film and Incidental music [ edit ]
1 January – Andy Gill , guitarist and singer-songwriter
17 January – Paul Young , singer and guitarist
25 January – Andy Cox (The Beat , Fine Young Cannibals )
31 January – Johnny Rotten , singer (Sex Pistols )
12 February – Brian Robertson , Scottish guitarist and songwriter (Thin Lizzy , Motörhead , Wild Horses )
13 February – Peter Hook , singer and bass player (Joy Division , New Order , Freebass , Revenge , Monaco )
12 March – Steve Harris , musician, composer (Iron Maiden )
3 June – Lynne Dawson , operatic soprano
4 June – Richard Butler , singer-songwriter
5 July
15 July – Ian Curtis , vocalist (Joy Division) (died 1980)
19 July –Nikki Sudden , English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Jacobites , Swell Maps ) (d. 2006)
20 July
27 August – Glen Matlock , guitarist (Sex Pistols )
12 September – B. A. Robertson , singer-songwriter
27 October – Hazell Dean , singer
17 November – Philip Grange , composer
19 December – Jimmy Cauty , artist and musician
28 December – Nigel Kennedy , violinist
9 March – Amanda Aldridge ('Montague Ring'), opera singer, teacher and composer, 89[ 6]
16 March – Joseph John Richards , conductor, composer and music teacher, 77
9 April – Jack Little , composer, actor, singer and songwriter
16 May – Orlando Morgan , music teacher, composer and musicologist, 91
18 July – Violet Loraine , musical theatre star, 69
6 September – Felix Borowski , British/American composer and teacher, 84
27 September – Gerald Finzi , composer, 55 ("severe brain inflammation")
18 October – Harry Parry , jazz clarinetist and bandleader , 44[ 7]
8 December – Edgar Bainton , church music composer, 76
9 December – Ethel Scarborough , pianist and composer, 76
date unknown – George Oldroyd , organist and composer
Ivor Novello Awards [ edit ]
^ Kendall, Alan. The Chronicle of Classical Music . Thames & Hudson, 2000: p. 240
^ Bliss, Arthur, "A musical embassy to the USSR – Russia through English eyes", The Times , 1 June 1956, p. 11
^ Music Web International . Accessed 15 April 2013
^ Ford (8 June 1974). "Burning Bush: Christopher Ford meets Alan Bush, neglected British master of grand opera". The Guardian . ProQuest 185747511 . (subscription required)
^ "The Guide to Musical Theatre" . The Guide to Musical Theatre. 1956-11-27. Retrieved 2012-09-13 .
^ "Amanda Aldridge, Teacher and Composer: A Life in Music" by Joyce Andrews, in Journal of Singing , 1 January 2010, ISSN 1086-7732 . Accessed 5 October 2010
^ Davies, John ; Jenkins, Nigel ; Menna, Baines; Lynch, Peredur I., eds. (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales . Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 651. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6 .
^ "The Seiber Centenary: 2005 and Beyond" Archived 2012-02-06 at the Wayback Machine , Suppressed Music , 9 August 2005.
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